Paradiso
by sapphireswimming
Summary: Of all the doors he'd walked through, this was by far the nicest. For surelysilly


**Yay angels! And minor characters! And angels who are minor characters!**

**Also it's surelysilly's birthday today so this is going up to celebrate an auspicious occasion, haha. Surelysilly is absolutely awesome and their writing fills up a good chunk of the superphantom archive both here and on tumblr so please please please do yourself a favor if you haven't read any of their stuff yet because it's really fabulous and amazing and alskdhf.**

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**Paradiso**

February 10, 2015

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Danny stared at this new door, a green one this time, and breathed deeply. He could open it. He would open it. For science! For the sake of exploring and mapping out the Ghost Zone. Ninety three doors down and only... a few million to go, right?

But it couldn't be any worse than some of the other places he'd stumbled into. Right? It really, really couldn't, he told himself, and reached out a hand to the next lair on his list.

He screwed up his face in anticipation of a demonic train barreling toward him or some fanged rabid fairies getting ready to tear his face off, or... anything really.

Turning the handle, Danny pushed the door in slowly, bracing himself for an attack before he even entered. Nothing greeted him, however, but the sound of birds quietly chirping. Intrigued, but still wary, he opened the door the rest of the way and tentatively put a ghostly foot over the threshold. Leaving the door open a crack behind him, he stepped fully into this new lair.

It was beautiful. Like a park encircled by a tall stone wall. There were trees everywhere: some saplings shooting out buds, some straight and tall trees with leafy foliage that spread out like a canopy above him, and some twisted gnarled trunks that were perfect for climbing. Birds sang and hopped lightly from tree to tree as squirrels and rabbits moved through the bushes and flowers. Sunlight danced through the leaves to throw shifting shadows at his feet.

Danny had only taken a few steps when a raspy voice called out, "Is someone there?" He froze, then turned around to look for whoever... or whatever... had spoken.

"Hello?" the voice came again. "I know someone's here because I was just standing in the middle of a bonsai garden."

Danny tilted his head at the comment, unsure of what that meant.

The person didn't really sound like much of a threat, but he couldn't be too careful as he moved forward, floating so that he wouldn't disturb any of the grass or twigs around him.

Looking around one particularly ancient tree, he saw a dark skinned man leaning against a rake. No ghostly glow and no inhuman powers in use that he could see. Although... the man stared directly at him even though Danny was pretty sure he'd been invisible as a precaution against any more ghostly bagpipers who only started their much-unneeded performances once they found an audience.

After a few moments being stared down in silence, Danny touched down and became visible again, not wanting to get off on the wrong foot with his host. "Uhh, hi, I'm Danny," he offered.

"Hello," the man greeted a bit curtly. "My name is Joshua. Now what are you doing here?" He sounded like a disapproving teacher who had just caught him trying to sneak out of detention.

"Um, I was just exploring," Danny said, feeling defensive. It wasn't like he'd really done anything _wrong_.

The man laughed disbelievingly as he studied Danny, looking him up and down. "Quite the wanderer, I see," he remarked.

Danny wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to respond. "I guess...?"

Joshua shifted his weight and brought the rake in front of him so that he could comfortably rest both hands on top of the handle. "So who told you to come here? How did you find the road?" His eyes narrowed. "Was it Castiel?"

Danny shook his head, confused by the questions. There weren't any roads in the Ghost Zone. Not that he knew of, at least. And why did the guy think that someone had to have led him to the right door? "No... I don't know a... I don't know them. And no one told me to come in, I just wanted to see what was in here."

"I can imagine," Joshua replied dryly. "But you're not supposed to be in here."

"Oh, um, I'm sorry," Danny said, thankful that the declaration had actually been semi-politely spoken instead of accompanied by an unnecessary attack. He knew that most ghosts liked to keep their lairs private, although he'd met a few that just loved to lure unwitting strangers in for glowing tea or everlasting conversation or to take part in duels to the death. If that wasn't what this guy wanted though, he could understand that. He was more than willing to leave if he had to. Just needed to be asked.

"I'll just..." He looked around and motioned back toward the door, making sure that he could still see it and that his escape route was still open to him. "I can go, then."

"I think that would be a good idea," Joshua agreed.

Danny turned to go, saddened that he would have to leave behind the forest, even if he was all too willing to never see its inhabitant again. "It's... a really nice place, though," he said before he left.

For the first time, the man smiled. It made his whole frame soften as he nodded in a short bow and said, "Thank you. I do try."

Danny nodded, smiled back. "Does it have a name?" he asked, thinking that the information would be extremely useful to incorporate into the Infi-Map. It was easier to write "The Ancient Town," for example, than "those freaky ruins where Skulker and I got trapped because when we tried to leave the place came alive and morphed into an ever-changing labyrinth that had things whispering through the windows."

Joshua blinked rapidly a few times at Danny's request. "This... this is The Garden," he replied slowly. At Danny's blank look, he pointedly added, "_The_ Garden. _Heaven's_ garden. You know, the garden where God likes to walk?"

Danny's eyes flew wide and his mouth fell open. "God's... garden?" he gaped. "As in... _God_ God? Like angels and demons and created the world, God? He's real?" he squeaked, voice rising until he couldn't recognize it as his own.

His mind raced in a thousand different directions as he realized what that meant. Where he was. The fact that _there was a door to Heaven floating around in the Ghost Zone._ And that the owner of the garden could come back at any moment.

"And this is his _lair_?!"

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**I never know where I stand on Danny's (and the rest of the Fenton's) religious views. So just roll with this being the reaction of a fourteen year old half dead kid who apparently just walked into Heaven from the Ghost Zone without realizing it was possible.**

**Things that may or may not have sounded familiar to you: Ghost of the Bagpiper is an original character that showed up in _Turning Pages: Music_. The Ancient Town was a reference to the setting of the last chapter in my _Phantasmic Images_ oneshot collection. The train was canon. ;)  
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The end. I don't plan to continue. Up for adoption; if you want it, come talk to me.


End file.
